About The Artist

About The Artist

Welcome to my small corner of the web! I’m Jodie (also known as ‘Kit Jo Yuki’ when it comes to comics!), a fantasy artist from the south of England. The majority of my works are created entirely digitally with the help of a graphics tablet and Adobe Photoshop. While I prefer to paint colourful, fanciful pictures of ladies, my love of the natural world has recently opened my eyes to the joys of animal and landscape painting!

My passions are dolls, languages, historic buildings, antiques and folklore. I also enjoy reading accounts of the supernatural – ghosts, near death experiences, alien encounters… there’s a lot of interesting things out there! In my spare time, you’ll usually find me painting, playing video games or reading reference books (not so much reading as looking at the pretty pictures…). I also spend a lot of my weekends at events and art exhibitions, take a look at the Contact page to see a list of where you can find me around the UK (and sometimes, beyond!).

I’ve been a fan of Japanese culture since my early teens, and have been fortunate enough to visit Japan and see the many wonders of this country. The manga style has greatly influenced my work, but I also draw inspiration from the Pre-Raphaelites and other master painters; my favourites being Tissot and Waterhouse, whose ladies are the pinnacle of beauty. I’ve also had my style described simply as ‘Disney’ (not sure if I agree…), but whatever floats your boat! One of the great joys of digital painting is the infinite range of colours available to artists… I use this to my advantage, creating works that (hopefully!) catch and hold your attention with their bright and attractive hues.

My goal is to study and improve as much as possible until I can release my comic, Without Light, along with other projects, in printed form.

FAQ

★ About my work ★

What do you use to make your art?

At the moment, I use Adobe Photoshop CS2 and a Wacom Cintiq 13HD. I’ve also recently started using an Ipad 12″ with Apple Pencil too.

Do you take commissions?

Yes! Please drop me an email (jodie@laternaworks.co.uk) with a brief outline of what you’d like and I can quote for you!

Can I commission you at an event?

It depends, at larger Comic Cons (like MCM) I can get booked up pretty quickly, so if you’d like a sketch please come as early as possible to book your place. I also tend to prefer sketching female characters, animals (anthro is fine!) or bishounen as they’re easier for me to complete quickly.

I’m interested in being a freelance artist. Do you have any tips?

The good news is, in this day and age it’s becoming easier for people to do what they love for a living! However, I only have experience with selling at events and online so I don’t know much about truly being freelance (i.e earning an income based on client commissions). If you have any questions about conventions I’d be happy to answer them though, feel free to drop me an email!

There’s also quite an in-depth interview I did for the art site Wraptious which you may find interesting, click here to read it!

Where did you learn to paint?

I’m mostly self-taught, having only studied art in high school. If you dig around on the internet on sites like Youtube you can find lots of helpful tutorials! No matter how hard you study, the best way to improve is to draw and paint as often as you can.

★ About the Store ★

What payments can you accept?

You can pay for your order by Debit/Credit Card or Paypal account.

Do you ship internationally?

Yes, I ship everything worldwide. The price will depend on the final weight of your order – feel free to add something to your basket and click ‘Shipping Estimate’ on the cart page to see the total with postage included.

What’s the deal with these collaborative art books you’re selling?

These are group projects successfully funded on Kickstarter. My artwork is featured in all of them, alongside many amazing artist friends. You can buy these Limited Edition books here on my site or you can get them straight from the publisher, Black Fox Press.

What does ‘Laternaworks’ mean, anyway?

It comes from the Laterna Magica (Magic Lantern). This was a type of 17th century projector made for entertaining using slides of artwork. They were commonly used to project ghostly images at magic shows, so they had a bit of a reputation as being demonic tools for summoning the dead! I’m a big fan of the paranormal, and fascinated by light, so the magic lantern seemed to resonate with me. Laterna Magica was later shortened to Laternaworks, or Lantern Works, when I created this site.

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